. 
180 JOURNEY IN THE AUSTRALIAN ALPS. 
LI 
and 75? according to Réaumur's scale, I am at present unable to eal- 
culate from this the barometric height and approximate altitude of this 
mountain, but I believe that it will be found nearly 7000 feet above the 
level of the sea. The much more abrupt and yet higher summit of the 
north-western mount I ascended from the Upper Mitta Mitta, which 
skirts its base, on the 6th of December. The boiling-water point T ob- 
served again to be 198° Fahr. (although the elevation of this mown- 
tain is unquestionably higher, to the extent of several hundred feet), a 
circumstance owing to the greater atmospherical pressure of that day. 
The observation was instituted during the afternoon about three o'clock. 
On both these mountains mighty masses of snow lay far below the 
summits, lodging chiefly in the ravines, and these never melt entirely 
under the heat of the summer sun. 
Considering that mountains of such altitude, probably the two 
highest in the Australian continent, deserve distinctive names, I solicit 
his Excellency’s permission to name the grandest of both Mount Ho- 
tham, and the second in height Mount La Trobe, as I trust to be en- 
titled to the great honour of being the first man who ever reached these 
commanding summits of the Australian highland. The sky being for- 
— tunately clear during the ascent of Mount Hotham, I enjoyed a most 
extensive and unrestricted view over the Alps, and I did not lose this 
opportunity of taking bearings over to some of the principal mountains 
already included in the trigonometrical survey of Australia. From 
Mount Hotham bore Mount Aberdeen (the southern peak in the Buf- 
falo Ranges) W. 10? N., the most northern peak of the same range W. 
30° N., Mount Buller W. 35° S., Mount M:Millan (of Townsend, or 
Castel Hill of Tyers) due S., the Cobboras Mountains (between Omeo 
and Maneroo) E. 12° N., Mount Wellington S. 10° W., Mount La Trobe 
d stant about eight miles) S. 25? E. Further bearings were made to 
Mount Leichardt E. 30? N., to Mitchell’s Plateau (in about equal dis- 
_ tance with Mount Buller) S. 40° W., to Kennedy’s Height (a rocky hill 
in the snowy table-land, aud about six miles distant) E. 5? S., to 
Hooker's Plateau (about fifteen miles distant) N. 25? E. The bearings 
from Mount La Trobe were as follows :—Mitchell’s Plateau S. 15? W. 
Mount Aberdeen W.5°S., Clarke's Peak (between Mitchell’s Plateau 
and the Buffalo Ranges) 8. 30° W., Mount Hotham N.25° W.; Mounts 
Buller, Wellington, M‘Millan, and other mountains, were concealed in 
clouds. I hope that these bearings, although only taken with a simple 
